Comcast Chief Executive Officer Brian Roberts applies the Apple model to his business empire: Keep it simple, and reinvent constantly.

By Geoff Colvin, senior editor at largeComcast Chief Executive Officer Brian Roberts: “The company can take an event and expose it widely across a fragmented world.

This company is in a position to take an event or a news happening or a movie and expose it as widely as possible in a very fragmented world, different from almost any other media or telecommunications company out there.

“FORTUNE — America’s biggest media company isn’t what you think. Comcast (CMCSA) takes in more revenue and commands a higher market value than Disney (DIS), News Corp. (NWSA), Time Warner (TWX), or any other competitor. Even Chief Executive Officer Brian Roberts marvels at how the company has risen. Founded by his father as a small cable TV system in Tupelo, Miss, Comcast is now majority owner of NBCUniversal, as well as the country’s largest cable operator (by far), the largest residential Internet service provider, and the third largest phone company. Roberts, 53, talked recently with Fortune’s Geoff Colvin about what he learned from last summer’s Olympic coverage, continually changing the business model, and much else. Edited excerpts:Q: The Peter Drucker question: What business are you in?A: We’re now clearly in the cross section, maybe uniquely, of media and technology. Comcast NBCUniversal has an incredible array of brands and ways to deliver those brands and experiences for consumers. We’re no longer a cable company or a broadcaster. We’re right at a cusp of change in media and technology.An example of media and technology was your coverage of the Olympics, which seemed to be a model of what you envisioned when you bought NBC. These events were streamed live online through every kind of device and also broadcast on traditional TV, sometimes live, sometimes taped. You called it a laboratory. What did you learn?A bunch of things. The first job was to try not to lose money on the Olympics. Based on the prior couple of Olympics, it looked as if we would lose money, and we were very fortunate to break even, maybe even make a small profit. That bodes well for the multibillion dollar [$4.4 billion] decision we made to carry the Olympics through 2020.We had projected we’d be about 10% below Beijing because Michael Phelps won eight gold medals, and how could you top that? And the [Beijing] time zone was so far away that a lot of events were broadcast live in the US Europe is the most difficult for that live factor. So we budgeted it down 10% and in fact came in up 10%. Why? Well, social media was something the NBC team embraced. We also used all our networks [NBC, CNBC, MSNBC, Telemundo, Bravo, USA, and many others], not just one. The number of hours of television was unprecedented. We put every single event live online and had mobile apps. The cable side of the company, Xfinity, had on demand information on every American athlete on laptops, on mobile phones. We had 40 million to 50 million on demand sessions in 17 days.So the public could not get enough ways to experience and touch the Olympics, and that bodes well for the future model. This company is in a position to take an event or a news happening or a movie and expose it as widely as possible in a very fragmented world, different from almost any other media or telecommunications company out there.Telephony is another thing you’re doing in a big way. Voice is becoming essentially a wireless business, but you’ve sold your wireless spectrum. What’s the future?While that is certainly the trend, we still are adding hundreds of thousands of wireline voice accounts because it’s more than wireline voice. It’s a great bargain. If the babysitter’s cellphone doesn’t work, you want to call your house and make sure somebody answers — how much is that worth to you? One day it was $100. Today maybe it’s $25. There’s a number at which a lot of people say, “You know what.

So Verizon Wireless has opened up all their products to our customers and to our technologists to innovate, so we can make for consumers a seamless world between our Xfinity home products and your tablets, your TV on the go, your downloading, your preferences, your history, all coming together, and then market it with Verizon Wireless in certain markets where we give great deals to consumers.

WEST COVINA, CA–(Marketwire – Nov 27, 2012) – E FUN, a consumer electronics designer and manufacturer of fun, easy to use lifestyle products, announced today its newest Nextbook Android tablet featuring full access to Google Play, the Nextbook Premium 7SE GP.

Some Android users started to notice the store appearing yesterday; today is the formal launch where it will be available to everyone.

Google says that the store at launch features over 100 UK titles, including Conde Nasts Vogue and Traveller, as well as Hello.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the top sellers so far are dominated by tech titles like Computer Gamer and the Official XBox Magazine, although interestingly Crochet Today is currently sitting at number four.

Hipsters or grannies driving the Android tablet market, perhaps to complement early adopting techies.

Add in any smartphone and a lot of kids want devices that can play apps available from Apple’s App store and the Google play store.

But look at it another way: there is content you’ll never find in iTunes or Google Play, like highly coveted Pokémon White Version 2 ($35).

The service allows users to browse and download music, magazines, books, movies, television programs, and applications that were published through Google.

Pocket size and powerful — it loaded Angry Birds in 15 seconds — the MG is built around the Google Play app store.

Expanding the Viddy CommunityWith more than half of all smartphone owners using Android devices, Viddy for Android expands the community of Viddyographers to the tens of millions of consumers using Android based smartphones and tablets while making it easier than ever to share beautiful videos with friends and family.

On the other, these are clearly also competitive plays from Google, to make sure that its Android devices remain desirable purchases in the face of competition from Amazon and the Kindle Fire, as well as Apple and the iPad.

Amazon is selling books and Google is making it up with search.

Android tablets have taken some market share from the iPad in the last year, but with the rise of the cheap Kindle Fire, new Windows 8 tablets and Microsofts big push on content for those, and Apples newest iPad models, this holiday season is very much up for grabs.

If your device happens to be Android powered, then theres good news today as YouTube has updated its app for Android tablets, bringing the raft of changes that were made last week to its iOS apps over to the Google owned operating system.

Michael Dell said onstage at his Dell World keynote today that Dell is No.

1 in market share for servers in North America and Asia and 64,000 servers from the number one spot worldwide.

Eastwood replied to us on Twitter: Dells #2 in server units & #2 in x86 server revenue.

It was the only server company to see increased share in the third quarter in a market that is showing an overall decline in sales.

Eastwoods remark about mainframes refers to the big bucks that companies like IBM still get for selling its big boxes.

In terms of revenues, IBM is in the top spot with $3.5 billion in revenues and Hewlett-Packard comes in second with $3.3 billion servers sold.

As of 2009, the company sold personal computers, servers, data storage devices, network switches, software, and computer peripherals.

The computers, routers, power supplies, and related electronics are typically mounted on 19 inch racks in a server room or data center.

But Dell did not invite a few thousand people to Austin this week for Dell World just to sell servers.

Bearing the name of its founder, Michael Dell, the company is one of the largest technological corporations in the world, employing more than 103,300 people worldwide.

Today, Dell made it official in its support for the DIY open cloud effort.

As a first step, today Dell is releasing a technical preview of its private cloud, Dell Cloud Dedicated, with OpenStack.

Well, its not going to copy Amazon Web Services, as it appears Hewlett-Packard is trying to do.

At Dell World in Austin, Texas, today, President Bill Clinton delivered a keynote address discussing the importance of collaboration and how society needs to get into the tomorrow business.

Silicon Valley, the startup community, big data vendors all of them are in the business of tomorrow.

Clinton cited recent studies that show fourth graders are now just behind South Korea and Singapore in math and science test scores.

Thats a good sign but compare 11th grade test scores and theres a gaping difference.

Clinton said the US non defense discretionary budget continues to get cut.

Clinton was also the first president since FDR and the last until current President Barack Obama to have not served in the military in any capacity.

Thats a quarter of the task of stabilizing the debtThats achievable, said Chuck Marre, director of Federal Tax Policy at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

Speaking on The Last Word in his first television interview since the comments, Costas told MSNBCs Lawrence ODonnell he was talking about a gun culture that he believes is a problem in the United States during the halftime show Sunday.

They are living in the future, Clinton said in a discussion with Michael Dell about Singapore and South Korea.

The development of email and the Web formed the foundation for todays collaboration technologies.

Its needed for a host of problems: getting out of debt, developing a national broadband policy, providing more funds to schools the list goes on.

December 11, 2012, 9:31 pmChina Woos Overseas Companies, Looking for Deals By KEITH BRADSHER and MICHAEL J.

DE LA MERCEDStephen McGee for The New York TimesWanxiang Group of China has agreed to buy A123 Systems, a bankrupt manufacturer of high tech batteries.

HONG KONG — Even as Wall Street deal makers await a revival of the moribund merger market, Chinese companies are shopping abroad with their wallets out.

Yet they are also facing scrutiny, particularly in Washington, as Chinese corporate buying trips coincide with a growing assertiveness in Chinese foreign policy, including the deployment in recent months of surveillance vessels and even naval destroyers and frigates in a series of territorial confrontations with American allies like Japan, Vietnam and the Philippines.

So far this year, the dollar volume of Chinese acquisitions overseas is up 28 percent from the same period a year ago, according to Thomson Reuters data.

That compares with a 2.8 percent slump in global merger and acquisition volume over all.

Article ToolsRelated Links Government Backed BuyersChinese international acquisitions are ahead for the year despite a slump during the third quarter, as state owned enterprises, which are the main Chinese buyers, and some private enterprises waited for a change in the country’s political leadership at the Communist Party Congress in mid November.

Two deals by Chinese companies were announced this week, and bankers and lawyers say that discussions are starting or are already under way on numerous other transactions.

Wessel, a Democratic appointee to the United States China Economic and Security Review Commission, said that bipartisan concern was growing in Congress about the first of the Chinese deals to be announced this autumn, a $117.6 million acquisition of Complete Genomics, a company in Mountain View, Calif.

Many of those, however, may take as long as a year to complete given China’s bureaucratic approval processes.

Dave Olecko/Nexen, via European Pressphoto AgencyAn oil drilling site belonging to Nexen, a Canadian company that is the subject of a takeover bid from the Chinese group Cnooc.

You will see an acceleration — you see it now,” although it would not amount to an immediate flood of transactions, said André Loesekrug Pietri, the chairman and managing partner of A Capital, a Hong Kong based private equity fund.Indeed, Beijing is pushing for additional deals, and has encouraged the state controlled banking sector to finance them.An increase in overseas investment by Chinese companies is an inevitable trend,” the commerce minister, Chen Deming, said at a conference two weeks ago, adding that China did not want to remain overwhelmingly invested in fixed income securities.

With foreign reserves of $3 trillion in hand,” he added, “we will not sit back and watch the assets depreciate with the third round of quantitative easing.

Wanxiang Group agreed on Sunday to pay $256 million to buy most of A123 Systems, a bankrupt manufacturer of high tech batteries.

And a consortium of Chinese investors agreed on the same day to pay $4.2 billion for a controlling stake in the American International Group’s aircraft leasing business.

On Friday, Canada approved the $15 billion acquisition of Nexen, an energy company, by the China National Offshore Oil Corporation, or Cnooc.

That deal is still pending approval by the American committee that reviews foreign investments on national security grounds, commonly known as Cfius.

A few deals may be completed this winter, but the real surge is likely to happen by next summer, bankers and lawyers said.

State owned enterprises account for as much as four fifths of China’s overseas acquisitions by value and many of their top executives are expected to change jobs this winter as the country’s new leaders start promoting their followers.

While the Communist Party Congress in November produced a new Politburo, a new slate of government ministers and vice premiers must still be selected at the National People’s Congress in March, a process that could also slow down deals.

Chinese regulations further require that at least three different agencies approve each overseas acquisition — the Ministry of Commerce, the National Development and Reform Commission and the State Administration of Exchange Control.

The assent of a fourth, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, is needed to qualify for extra financing and faster approval in certain sectors deemed strategic, like clean energy, said Mao Tong, a partner at the law firm Squire Sanders.

But despite the long lead time for Chinese deals, bankers say the process is clearly starting.

Two of the biggest deals by Chinese companies this year were for control of North American companies.

Is the biggest takeover by Chinese entities on record, according to data from Thomson Reuters.

Members of China’s new government wanted to show the country’s seriousness in pursuing investments outside of China, and spent time assembling the most fitting consortium to pursue a deal for the business.

The government chose as the face of the deal Weng Xianding, a veteran of China’s financial regulatory agencies who has turned to investing.

His company, New China Trust, is essentially a major Chinese commercial lender, counting Western firms like Barclays among its investors.

Once the preferred consortium was formed around September, it began talking with A.

A goal for the Chinese, a person with direct knowledge of the matter said, was to conduct the talks in a “Western way,” using Western advisers and not getting bogged down in traditional bureaucratic mire.

The talks were completed in just over three months, and the buyers successfully negotiated a discount of nearly half of we.

Two evolving trends are apparent in Chinese international deal making, Chinese government officials, bankers, lawyers and trade experts said in interviews.

The government is putting heavy pressure on Chinese companies to seek minority stakes, and not to automatically seek full control, so as to tap foreign management expertise, two officials said.

At the same time, Chinese companies are broadening their range of acquisition targets to include more industrial manufacturers and consumer brand companies, even as they maintain their interest in natural resources and financial services.

We wouldn’t say there’s a desire to buy minority stakes, but we think there’s a greater acceptance that’s an appropriate thing to do,” said Michael S. Weiss, the head of China mergers and acquisitions at Morgan Stanley.Other bankers said that one big obstacle to the purchase of minority stakes lay in the wariness of many foreign companies in accepting a Chinese partner — particularly since nearly four fifths of Chinese acquirers are state owned enterprises, and most of the rest tend to have Chinese government links.Many of today’s buyers have drawn lessons from past failures and moved to assuage government regulators before striking deals. Cnooc, in particular, learned from its failed bid to buy the oil company Unocal seven years ago, and tried to apply those lessons in its pursuit of Nexen.The Chinese company considered the deal in part because it believed that a takeover could win approval, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter. While a big player in Canada’s energy community, Nexen was not one of the country’s iconic companies, heading off the sort of brutal fight that surrounded a takeover battle for Potash, the producer of an important fertilizing ingredient.Cnooc hired an army of advisers, including lobbyists and public relations specialists, to press the point that a deal would only strengthen the Canadian energy company. And Cnooc was open about much of its financing, aiming to halt concerns that it was being financed cheaply by state run banks.Still, national security concerns could also slow some deals. Bankers and lawyers say that Cfius, which stands for the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, can sometimes prove frustrating to would be buyers. The group scrutinizes deals to ensure that they do not harm the country’s national security interests.Unlike the process in Canada, where negotiations with the foreign investment watchdog are public, the Cfius review takes place largely behind closed doors, and buyers are not always told why deals are rejected.A Treasury spokeswoman, Natalie Earnest, said in a statement: As we consider foreign investments in the United States, of course, we have an obligation — like any country — to protect our national security, and that is the exclusive focus of Cfius.Michael R. Wessel, a Democratic appointee to the United States China Economic and Security Review Commission, said that bipartisan concern was growing in Congress about the first of the Chinese deals to be announced this autumn, a $117.6 million acquisition of Complete Genomics, a company in Mountain View, Calif., that does DNA sequencing.Mr Wessel, who also advises the United Steelworkers union on trade issues, was also critical of the A.we.G. deal. He said that the Chinese government could pressure airlines to buy Chinese made parts for their leases, and could eventually urge airlines to lease Chinese made civilian airliners now being developed.A spokesman for the buyers’ group said in a statement that we.L.F.C. already had one of the largest aircraft order books in aviation, with a commitment to purchase up to 279 Boeing and Airbus aircraft between now and 2020. “We will continue to add to this order book as we see opportunities in the marketplace based on the market appeal of the aircraft and the economics offered by the manufacturers,” he added.Some would be Chinese buyers have not fully considered how much work is needed to ensure that their investments will go through, advisers say.we think many Chinese companies in particular have not taken into account the need to be in touch with Washington policy makers about their needs,” said Nancy L.

McLernon, the chief executive of the Organization for International Investment, a group that represents domestic subsidiaries of foreign companies.

December 11, 2012, 9:31 pmChina Woos Overseas Companies, Looking for Deals By KEITH BRADSHER and MICHAEL J.

DE LA MERCEDStephen McGee for The New York TimesWanxiang Group of China has agreed to buy A123 Systems, a bankrupt manufacturer of high tech batteries.

HONG KONG — Even as Wall Street deal makers await a revival of the moribund merger market, Chinese companies are shopping abroad with their wallets out.

Yet they are also facing scrutiny, particularly in Washington, as Chinese corporate buying trips coincide with a growing assertiveness in Chinese foreign policy, including the deployment in recent months of surveillance vessels and even naval destroyers and frigates in a series of territorial confrontations with American allies like Japan, Vietnam and the Philippines.

So far this year, the dollar volume of Chinese acquisitions overseas is up 28 percent from the same period a year ago, according to Thomson Reuters data.

That compares with a 2.8 percent slump in global merger and acquisition volume over all.

Article ToolsRelated Links Government Backed BuyersChinese international acquisitions are ahead for the year despite a slump during the third quarter, as state owned enterprises, which are the main Chinese buyers, and some private enterprises waited for a change in the country’s political leadership at the Communist Party Congress in mid November.

Two deals by Chinese companies were announced this week, and bankers and lawyers say that discussions are starting or are already under way on numerous other transactions.

Wessel, a Democratic appointee to the United States China Economic and Security Review Commission, said that bipartisan concern was growing in Congress about the first of the Chinese deals to be announced this autumn, a $117.6 million acquisition of Complete Genomics, a company in Mountain View, Calif.

Many of those, however, may take as long as a year to complete given China’s bureaucratic approval processes.

Dave Olecko/Nexen, via European Pressphoto AgencyAn oil drilling site belonging to Nexen, a Canadian company that is the subject of a takeover bid from the Chinese group Cnooc.

You will see an acceleration — you see it now,” although it would not amount to an immediate flood of transactions, said André Loesekrug Pietri, the chairman and managing partner of A Capital, a Hong Kong based private equity fund.Indeed, Beijing is pushing for additional deals, and has encouraged the state controlled banking sector to finance them.An increase in overseas investment by Chinese companies is an inevitable trend,” the commerce minister, Chen Deming, said at a conference two weeks ago, adding that China did not want to remain overwhelmingly invested in fixed income securities.

With foreign reserves of $3 trillion in hand,” he added, “we will not sit back and watch the assets depreciate with the third round of quantitative easing.

Wanxiang Group agreed on Sunday to pay $256 million to buy most of A123 Systems, a bankrupt manufacturer of high tech batteries.

And a consortium of Chinese investors agreed on the same day to pay $4.2 billion for a controlling stake in the American International Group’s aircraft leasing business.

On Friday, Canada approved the $15 billion acquisition of Nexen, an energy company, by the China National Offshore Oil Corporation, or Cnooc.

That deal is still pending approval by the American committee that reviews foreign investments on national security grounds, commonly known as Cfius.

A few deals may be completed this winter, but the real surge is likely to happen by next summer, bankers and lawyers said.

State owned enterprises account for as much as four fifths of China’s overseas acquisitions by value and many of their top executives are expected to change jobs this winter as the country’s new leaders start promoting their followers.

While the Communist Party Congress in November produced a new Politburo, a new slate of government ministers and vice premiers must still be selected at the National People’s Congress in March, a process that could also slow down deals.

Chinese regulations further require that at least three different agencies approve each overseas acquisition — the Ministry of Commerce, the National Development and Reform Commission and the State Administration of Exchange Control.

The assent of a fourth, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, is needed to qualify for extra financing and faster approval in certain sectors deemed strategic, like clean energy, said Mao Tong, a partner at the law firm Squire Sanders.

But despite the long lead time for Chinese deals, bankers say the process is clearly starting.

Two of the biggest deals by Chinese companies this year were for control of North American companies.

Is the biggest takeover by Chinese entities on record, according to data from Thomson Reuters.

Members of China’s new government wanted to show the country’s seriousness in pursuing investments outside of China, and spent time assembling the most fitting consortium to pursue a deal for the business.

The government chose as the face of the deal Weng Xianding, a veteran of China’s financial regulatory agencies who has turned to investing.

His company, New China Trust, is essentially a major Chinese commercial lender, counting Western firms like Barclays among its investors.

Once the preferred consortium was formed around September, it began talking with A.

A goal for the Chinese, a person with direct knowledge of the matter said, was to conduct the talks in a “Western way,” using Western advisers and not getting bogged down in traditional bureaucratic mire.

The talks were completed in just over three months, and the buyers successfully negotiated a discount of nearly half of we.

Two evolving trends are apparent in Chinese international deal making, Chinese government officials, bankers, lawyers and trade experts said in interviews.

The government is putting heavy pressure on Chinese companies to seek minority stakes, and not to automatically seek full control, so as to tap foreign management expertise, two officials said.

At the same time, Chinese companies are broadening their range of acquisition targets to include more industrial manufacturers and consumer brand companies, even as they maintain their interest in natural resources and financial services.

We wouldn’t say there’s a desire to buy minority stakes, but we think there’s a greater acceptance that’s an appropriate thing to do,” said Michael S. Weiss, the head of China mergers and acquisitions at Morgan Stanley.Other bankers said that one big obstacle to the purchase of minority stakes lay in the wariness of many foreign companies in accepting a Chinese partner — particularly since nearly four fifths of Chinese acquirers are state owned enterprises, and most of the rest tend to have Chinese government links.Many of today’s buyers have drawn lessons from past failures and moved to assuage government regulators before striking deals. Cnooc, in particular, learned from its failed bid to buy the oil company Unocal seven years ago, and tried to apply those lessons in its pursuit of Nexen.The Chinese company considered the deal in part because it believed that a takeover could win approval, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter. While a big player in Canada’s energy community, Nexen was not one of the country’s iconic companies, heading off the sort of brutal fight that surrounded a takeover battle for Potash, the producer of an important fertilizing ingredient.Cnooc hired an army of advisers, including lobbyists and public relations specialists, to press the point that a deal would only strengthen the Canadian energy company. And Cnooc was open about much of its financing, aiming to halt concerns that it was being financed cheaply by state run banks.Still, national security concerns could also slow some deals. Bankers and lawyers say that Cfius, which stands for the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, can sometimes prove frustrating to would be buyers. The group scrutinizes deals to ensure that they do not harm the country’s national security interests.Unlike the process in Canada, where negotiations with the foreign investment watchdog are public, the Cfius review takes place largely behind closed doors, and buyers are not always told why deals are rejected.A Treasury spokeswoman, Natalie Earnest, said in a statement: As we consider foreign investments in the United States, of course, we have an obligation — like any country — to protect our national security, and that is the exclusive focus of Cfius.Michael R. Wessel, a Democratic appointee to the United States China Economic and Security Review Commission, said that bipartisan concern was growing in Congress about the first of the Chinese deals to be announced this autumn, a $117.6 million acquisition of Complete Genomics, a company in Mountain View, Calif., that does DNA sequencing.Mr Wessel, who also advises the United Steelworkers union on trade issues, was also critical of the A.we.G. deal. He said that the Chinese government could pressure airlines to buy Chinese made parts for their leases, and could eventually urge airlines to lease Chinese made civilian airliners now being developed.A spokesman for the buyers’ group said in a statement that we.L.F.C. already had one of the largest aircraft order books in aviation, with a commitment to purchase up to 279 Boeing and Airbus aircraft between now and 2020. “We will continue to add to this order book as we see opportunities in the marketplace based on the market appeal of the aircraft and the economics offered by the manufacturers,” he added.Some would be Chinese buyers have not fully considered how much work is needed to ensure that their investments will go through, advisers say.we think many Chinese companies in particular have not taken into account the need to be in touch with Washington policy makers about their needs,” said Nancy L.

McLernon, the chief executive of the Organization for International Investment, a group that represents domestic subsidiaries of foreign companies.

The updated listening screen essentially means Shazam has replaced the sweep action with an updated blue Shazam dial that responds to music.

Part of the beautification update is larger album artwork: when you look at new tag results for music, TV ads, or shows, youll see bigger accompanying images, as well as the usual buttons for listening to a sample and purchasing the content from iTunes.

If youre in a poor reception area, you no longer have to manually resubmit tags when you relocate.

The new search function makes it easy to find specific tags with a search by name, title, tag date or location; * Sharing on Google+.

Speaking of the search company, in addition to Facebook and Twitter support, Shazam has received Google+ integrated for your social sharing needs.

Shazam’s users have been clamoring for more sharing options, so now they can share to Facebook, Twitter and Google+.

People who are visually impaired now can start tagging immediately by simply doing a two finger double tap from anywhere in the Shazam App, when VoiceOver is enabled * All versions of Shazam for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch come with unlimited tagging, giving fans more opportunities to engage with music and television content.

Windows guru Paul Thurrotts scoop from last week has panned out: Microsoft has announced that other retailers besides its Microsoft Stores will begin selling its Surface tablets, effective right away.

Sources close to the company told Business Insider that Microsoft will soon announce more retailers, too.

Sources close to Microsoft’s Surface RT sales numbers claim that the device is actually selling very well given a modest, Microsoft limited distribution.

Meanwhile in the States, the Redmond company was rumored to launch Surface RT in Staples and Best Buy come January.

Staples will be selling the RT tablet for the same prices as Microsoft, starting at $499.

That is the same time frame in which Microsoft will begin selling its Surface Pro tablet computer.

Until this announcement, the Surface was only available at Microsoft’s own stores, of which there are 31, plus 34 special holiday “pop up” stores.

Now Surface will far more readily available, in stores which also sell iPads and Android tablets and which (unlike Microsoft Stores) probably wont reconfigure themselves to put this one particular product in the center ring.

In comparison, Staples operates nearly 1,900 retail stores throughout the United States and Canada.

However, that exclusivity seems to be over, and the Surface will soon begin appearing in third party retail stores.

This move should also stop unscrupulous retailers from buying the Surface from Microsoft and trying to sell it to consumers at an inflated price.

Right now the only Surface available to consumers runs a limited operating system called Windows RT, which is designed for lower capability processors and can run only software obtained through the Microsoft app store.

(NASDAQ: SPLS), the world’s largest office products company and second largest internet retailer in the world, today announced it will carry Microsoft Surface at all Staples locations and Staples.comas early as December 12.

Microsoft Surface features an extension of the Windows experience, letting customers work, play and connect with others.

Many experts believe the newer device, which features more storage, memory, and processing power, will upstage the older Surface RT.

However customers wanting the 32 GB version with the Touch Cover must shell out $599, and those wanting 64 GB of storage and a Touch Cover will be required to scrape up $699.

Consumers who purchase any Surface regularly priced $699 and above will also receive free data transfer from their old computer.

Oil prices will likely trade in a tight range this week as investors remain reluctant to take on large bets until the framework of a deal aimed at averting the “fiscal cliff” in the US becomes clearer, according to CNBC’s latest survey of oil market sentiment.

Four out of ten of this week’s survey respondents expect oil prices to gain this week, four said prices will hold at current levels while two said prices may fall.

So far global equities have been a slight negative for the oil prices as well as the broader commodity complex.

US crude futures were 0.7 percent higher last week and held in a trading range between $85 and $90 a barrel for most of November.

“The ‘cliff’ is the big issue,” said Mark Waggoner, President of Excel Futures Inc.

“We’ve seen no substantial headway in Congress yet. Once the ‘cliff’ is removed expect a rally to start.”.

The White House and Congressional Republicans remain at loggerheads over how to design a deficit reduction package, with just a few weeks remaining before $600 billion in scheduled tax increases and spending cuts begin in January.

“We find traders are remaining very cautious about oil, refusing to extend their bets in the current volatile environment,” said Justin Harper, Market Strategist at IG Markets, adding that of the firm’s clients currently trading oil, 69 percent hold long positions, or bullish bets, down sharply from 87 percent in the prior week.

“While economic data may be slightly improving, energy markets are being dictated by ‘fiscal cliff’ negotiations. With so much discussion and differing views on the progress being made to divert $600 billion of tax hikes and spending cuts, we are in for a rollercoaster ride as we head to the year end,” he added.

Commodity analysts at ANZ said that US futures data showing a 7 percent build in non commercial short oil positions and non commercial longs liquidating by 4 percent implied “a bearish view on prices.

” They added that improvements in the official Chinese Purchasing Managers’ Index over the weekend should “put a floor” under prices, but “ongoing uncertainty in the US will likely generate more sideway moves.

That would be a nightmare for shorts,” said Sean Hyman, a financial analyst who edits The Ultimate Wealth Report newsletter, referring to bets that oil prices will head lower.. “There’s so much Middle East turmoil right now that could ignite into something much larger and oil could spike very easily from here,” he added.. Egypt’s ruling Islamists tried to defuse a political crisis on Monday, with President Mohamed Mursi backing a compromise over his seizure of extended powers last week, while his Muslim Brotherhood called off a planned demonstration, Reuters reported.. “If a political crisis erupts in Egypt, it could destabilize the rest of the region – just as it did in last year’s revolution – and add to upside price risks,” ANZ analysts led by Mark Pervan said in a note on Tuesday.. Separately, Egyptian mediators began talks on Monday with Hamas and Israel to flesh out details of a ceasefire agreed last week that ended eight days of fighting in the Gaza Strip.. “The longer the lull in Gaza, the higher the risk of a more significant fall below $85 and then towards our end of year $80 target,” said Sydney based Compass Global Markets in a report. “However, we maintain our neutral outlook in crude in the short term as there are various factors pulling the crude price in opposite directions.

We believe market participants have become fairly complacent with the range bound trading we’ve seen in most stocks and commodities and are wary there could be a rude awakening soon,” he added.

We anticipate that the market will remain in a trading range until it becomes clearer as to how the heating season will evolve.

In the short term the price of oil will move based on the evolution of the situation in the Middle East and the markets view as to the state of the global economy.

“The sluggish macro outlook sets the ceiling for the range, and the geopolitical risks, mainly from Iran and Syria, set the floor.”.

From a technical perspective, Dhiren Sarin, Chief Technical Strategist for Asia Pacific at Barclays Capital said though ‘neutral’ for the week, any break above the $106 to $112.25 a barrel range in Brent crude “would turn us bullish and alternatively, on dips towards the $106/107 area we would look for basing signs.”.

Asian shares and the euro rose on Monday as further signs of a stabilising Chinese economy boosted investor risk appetite, offsetting worries that stagnant US budget talks could threaten to derail the world’s largest economy.

A firm manufacturing survey from Asia’s fourth largest economy, South Korea, also brightened mood, while data from Australia showing sluggish retail sales and labour demand and tame inflation raised expectations the Reserve Bank of Australia may cut interest rates at its meeting on Tuesday.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan climbed 0.4 percent to a fresh nine month high, after closing at its highest since February 29 on Friday, and a touch below 2012 highs.

TOKYO (Reuters) – The Nikkei average hit a seven month closing high on Friday as a weaker yen, driven by persistent expectations the Bank of Japan will act more boldly under a likely new government after a December 16 election, lifted the shares of exporters.

Hong Kong shares extended gains, hitting fresh intra day highs on the year.

The pace of activity in China’s vast manufacturing sector quickened for the first time in 13 months in November, with the final reading for the HSBC Purchasing Managers’ Survey (PMI) rising to 50.5 in November, further evidence that the economy is reviving after seven quarters of slowing growth.

China’s official PMI hit a seven month high of 50.6 for November, according to a manufacturing survey over the weekend, while an official PMI survey of non manufacturing sectors ticked up to 55.6 in November, led by construction services.

TOKYO, Dec 3 (Reuters) – Japan’s Nikkei average is expectedto open higher on Monday, extending gains from a seven monthclosing high hit in the previous session, as exporters arebuoyed by a weaker yen and improved Chinese manufacturing data.

“There is growing confidence that China’s economy bottomed in July September, with signs of firmer external demand,” said Hirokazu Yuihama, a senior strategist at Daiwa Securities.

“Sentiment is supported because the gradual recovery in Asian economies comes against the backdrop of low interest rates environment, which won’t be changed anytime soon, so the recovery in risk sentiment is likely to extend into next year,” he said.

The favourable Chinese data and hopes of a rate cut saw Australian shares up 0.7 percent to a five week high.

Few economists think the ECB will cut its main interest rate from the current record low of 0.75 percent at its monthly policy meeting next Thursday.

South Korean shares rose 0.3 percent to their highest in more than six weeks, buoyed by weekend data showing exports posted their first back to back growth of the year and a private manufacturing survey on Monday showing a the pace of contraction slowed in November.

Japan’s Nikkei stock average added 0.7 percent to a fresh seven month high, extending gains from Friday.

“our understanding of the current market move is mainly due to the catch up of high beta exporting companies due to the global economic trend … This process of catch up will continue until the Nikkei hit 10,000,” said Ryota Sakagami, chief strategist at SMBC Nikko Securities, of Nikkei.

Japanese firms raised spending on plant and equipment in the third quarter for a fourth consecutive quarterly rise, in the latest sign the world’s third largest economy may have seen the worst from the effect of slack global demand.

ANXIETY GAUGE MIXED
Major stock market indexes closed little changed and Treasury yields slipped on safe haven demand on Friday as the stalemate in US budget talks fuelled concerns about slowing US economic growth.

European stocks ended Friday slightly down but posted solid monthly gains, thanks to growing views that the worst of Europe’s debt crisis is over.

The Euro STOXX 50 Volatility Index, Europe’s widely used measure of investor risk aversion, fell to its lowest level not seen since mid 2007 of 16.26 on Friday.

Data from EPFR Global showed on Friday that worldwide, stock funds took in USD 14.86 billion in the week ended November 28, the second largest total since 2008, while investors pumped the most into US stock funds in over a year even as US lawmakers sparred over planned budget cuts.

But the CBOE Volatility Index, which reflects anxiety in the Standard & Poor’s 500 index, jumped 5.4 percent on Friday for its largest daily gain in two weeks.

The euro fell on Friday after Moody’s downgraded the credit ratings on the European Stability Mechanism and the European Financial Stability Fund last week, but the drop was limited.

The dollar steadied at 82.34 yen, not far from a 7 1/2 month high of 82.84 yen touched on November 22.

Data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission released on Friday showed currency speculators in the latest week boosted short yen positions to the highest since the beginning of May, 2007, riding on speculation that a likely change in Japan’s government would lead to more aggressive monetary easing.

Both US crude futures and Brent inched up 0.3 percent to USD 89.16 a barrel and USD 111.57 respectively, while London copper also gained 0.3 percent to USD 8,018 a tonne.

Spot gold crawled up 0.3 percent to USD 1,719.71 an ounce, as a 0.2 percent drop in the dollar against a basket of key currencies made dollar based commodities less expensive for holders of non dollar currencies.